1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a micro-endoscope or endoscope apparatus used to visually inspection minute lesions or clusters of cells in a body cavity or interior organ of a human body. Endoscopes are frequently used with laparoscopic surgery where surgery is performed through a small incision or natural opening in the body. A surgeon uses an endoscope to see inside the patient's body.
Endoscope has a distal end that includes an optical fiber bundle with thousands of fibers that is flexible with overall outer diameter of about 1-2 millimeters that is “insertable” into a typical female milk duct, other body cavity, or internal organ.
One application of the present invention relates to the detection of abnormal cells in a human female breast. All breast cancer starts in the lining of the milk ducts. Milk ducts run like tree branches through the breast and culminate in 6-8 openings in the nipple. The widest ducts, near the nipple, are 1.5 mm to 2 mm in diameter. Ducts become microscopic towards the back of the breast near the chest wall. During micro endoscope procedure, the doctor is able to see the lining of the ducts by inserting the flexible fiber optic endoscope into a nipple opening of a milk duct. Endoscope can be used to inspect milk ducts for abnormal cells or lesions. Almost all abnormal conditions of the breast, including breast cancer, originate from the milk duct. If inspection is accomplished early enough in the event of an abnormal condition, the cellular origins of the abnormal conditions may be detected as they occur or at least at a very early stage of the condition, at which point effective measures may be taken to eradicate the condition from the breast at a very early stage, potentially saving the patient's life. This procedure may allow more precise identification of intraductal disease and may result in improved localization of intraductal lesions and may avoid surgery in women with endoscopically normal ducts.
In other applications, endoscope can be used to inspect any part of the body through a small incision, small diameter opening or orifice, or other portal as small as about 1 millimeter in diameter. For example, endoscope may be used to inspect brain tissue, brain ventricles, eye tissue, eye orbital tissue, and other tissue where there is benefit to the use of small incisions on the order of a few millimeters in diameter.
In other applications, endoscope can be used as an endoscopic surgery instrument. The invention includes the capability of targeting certain lesions or cells in the endoscopic viewing area for precise tissue ablation, tissue cutting, tissue resection, or tissue shrinking, without causing damage to surrounding normal cells. The invention allows for delivery of low-energy laser radiation at a specific point or target point within the surgeon's scope of view that may be small enough to focus on a cluster of cells. This is accomplished through the use of a low-energy marking laser along with a low-energy ablation, cutting, resection, or shrinking laser situated within the endoscope apparatus, where the optical fibers for such are included within a 1-2 millimeter outer diameter insertable distal end. If tissue ablation/cutting/resection is accomplished early enough in the event of an abnormal condition, the cellular origins of the abnormal conditions may be eradicated at a very early stage, thereby arresting the abnormal condition before it propagates.
2. Description of Related Art
It has been conventionally known that flexible optical fibers (fiber optics) can be inserted into small narrow body cavities or incisions where the fibers allow the surgeon to effectively see inside the small narrow body cavity or incision with non-invasive or minimally invasive procedural effects on the patient. Prior art endoscopes use various types of optical fibers to project images from inside of the patient's body to the outside where the surgical team may view them and use such views to guide them through the surgical procedure. Flexible optical cables are typically optically connected to cameras that are typically electrically connected by one or more cables to one or more computers that may analyze and present the data in any number of ways to many different devices that prove to aid the surgeon with any number of non-invasive or minimally invasive surgical procedures.
Further it has been conventionally known that flexible optical fibers may be used to transmit laser light from outside of the patient's body to the inside surgical area, where the laser light may be used to help perform the surgical procedure by cutting or ablating tissue, for instance.
This invention provides an endoscope with special illumination capabilities along with special surgical capabilities. This invention is first to provide the capability for a surgeon to visually inspect a milk duct or other body cavity or internal organ with the capability of illuminating a group of target cells in the patient's body with two distinct illumination sources that may be used simultaneously, so that when each illumination source characteristics are used to complement each other, where characteristics include the wavelength, intensity, coherence, phase, and polarization of the light source. The invention causes normal and abnormal cells in the target area to become much more visually distinguishable, where cells look differently than if being viewed by only one or multiple light sources with similar characteristics. When the two light sources have characteristics that complement each other, the change in visual characteristics of the cells renders distinction between normal and abnormal cells in the target area quite apparent.
Moreover, this invention also provides the simultaneous capability of targeting the abnormal cells with two distinct laser sources, along with two special light sources, where the two laser sources can be used to precisely ablate or otherwise burn abnormal cells without damaging surrounding normal cells.